Three days or two when returning?

[Rainbowindigoblue]

I’m due to return from my second maternity leave in June and I need to decide whether to ask for my original three days or to reduce further to two.

Pros to three are

More money (of course!)
Increased pension payments
I feel three days is a bit of a tipping point career wise where any less than that is a ‘job’ (if that makes sense.)

But on the other hand it’s the last year before dc1 starts school and I’m also not sure how we’ll manage for wraparound care when he does start.

Any thoughts?

We both do three, but three slightly shorter days so we don’t need after school childcare.

What do you do OP? I found 3 days quite hard because I was managing projects and a lot could happen over the 'long weekend' I was off for, 4 days worked better for me. I absolutely couldn't have kept a tab on projects if I was only in 2 days, I would have had to 'step back' into a purely design roll.

Make sure you look into the wraparound care now so its not a surprise, I drop my son off at school in the morning and then we use after school club but its not oversubscribed and I don't have a long commute so its not a rush for us.

Can't answer without knowing your role.

I teach.

Oh well that is an easier decision as assume you will job share and not need to worry about what happens on your off days.

I think three is a good balance between work and home.